Marijuana, Joint

It is a plant (cannabis sativa) with the toxic effects of a drug because it contains a chemical substance called delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). To obtain the drug, the whole plant can be used. The leaves yield kif, from the flowers grass is obtained, and from the resin of the flowers hashish is formed. Marijuana cigarettes are usually called joints.

- The effects depend on the concentration of THC, on the characteristics and enzymes of each person, on the route of administration and experience, even on the environment. Its effects are worse in young people. Some effects of marijuana are immediate; others are produced with continued use.

(they vary):

• Sometimes there is euphoria and unreality; at other times difficulties with attention and fears.
• Then sensory perception is altered; an excess of sensitivity and suggestibility appears that produces ups and downs and mood changes. Marijuana diminishes affective control with loss of self-mastery. It disturbs the brain producing a situation of silly laughter with a blank stare, fantasies, disorientation, even hallucinations.
• Later appear listlessness, indifference, apathy, loss of energy to move, lack of enthusiasm and motivation, which invites taking the drug again.

(they also vary):

• Physical effects: Marijuana damages the lungs and cells, especially white blood cells and sperm. It accelerates the pulse. It diminishes defenses. It damages the throat (pharyngitis, cough). A single joint leaves more tar in the lungs than several cigarettes, among other reasons because it is smoked without a filter (bronchitis, asthma).
• Psychological effects: Marijuana distorts perception by damaging sensitivity, diminishes memory and willpower, makes thinking, learning, and making decisions harder, produces anxiety and aggressiveness altering psychological balance. It causes loss of interest and motivation for normal things (life, hygiene...) to focus attention on the drug and its rituals. Marijuana creates psychological dependence, diminishing freedom while the affected person thinks the opposite is happening. It causes brain damage. Personal disorder increases and external appearance deteriorates.
• Social effects: Marijuana produces family troubles, work instability, loss of professional capacities, criminal acts, propagation of the drug, isolation in addiction groups. Marijuana is the previous step to stronger drugs (often it is enough for one in the group to start).
• A curious fact: the word assassin comes from the Arabic hassasin meaning hashish drinkers. It is not that joint smokers are assassins, but the fact is significant: marijuana is no joke.

The reasons for starting are similar to those for other drugs (imitation, being in fashion, desire to forget problems, etc.). One usually starts with a puff or a joint given as a gift. The next step is to buy: thus one enters more into the environment, learning new ways of taking drugs. Then one starts to sell, etc.

Marijuana diminishes willpower and creates psychological addictions; for this reason it is costly to give it up. To achieve this, it is recommended: to keep one's time occupied, to cut ties with drug environments and seek the support of someone (see the topic drugs). But the best thing is not to start taking it. Thus my friends who gave up drugs insist: to quit, the best thing is not to begin, and to not begin the best thing is not to go with people who take drugs; and not to entertain doubts.

Not all consequences always occur, and of course the effects of marijuana are less if one smokes less (logical). But one must not forget that damaged neurons regenerate with difficulty, and a single joint affects the brain, as anyone can appreciate.

There are two or three ways to know them: do one's own research, study what others have seriously investigated, or mix both systems. On the other hand, it is not very accurate to rely on one or two private cases, because the effects sometimes vary.

No, no. A doctor does not need to fall ill to know the effects of an ailment; it is enough to analyze them in patients or to learn from other doctors who have investigated them.

(This question comes from Mexico.) Effects vary from person to person. Regarding brain damage, one can say:

• Marijuana affects the brain within a few minutes of use. This is very evident.
• Marijuana (the THC) is eliminated with difficulty and takes approximately a month to be cleared. Brain effects diminish as it is eliminated.
• The brain is capable of adapting and using other neural connections when some neurons are damaged. For this reason, some studies show the absence of effects after a month, while other studies speak for example of psychotic illnesses more frequent in marijuana users.

- In 1989, Schwartz and others carried out a test on this subject among young people of about 16 years of age with similar educational and intellectual characteristics. Marijuana smokers failed much more on short-term memory. After a month without the drug, they still showed failures greater than non-smokers.

- In 1991, ten experienced pilots were assembled and trained with a flight simulator. The test began with a prior landing. Then, some smoked a single joint, and others a cigarette without marijuana. The simulated flight was repeated one, four, and twenty-four hours later. In all three tests, those who had smoked marijuana had important difficulties in aligning the plane in the center of the runway. And none of them noticed that marijuana had affected them.

- A Swedish study of 15 years' duration on 55,000 soldiers showed that habitual marijuana users are six times more likely to become schizophrenic.

- Nobel Prize winner Dr. Julius Axelrod discovered that the cell regeneration rate of marijuana users is less than half the normal rate. Sir William Paton, professor of pharmacology at Oxford, discovered that brain atrophy in young marijuana users is equivalent to that of 80-year-old elderly persons.

5. Information about marijuana provided on the websites of some governments:

• The national institute of health of the United States.
• The ministry of health of Spain.
• Ministry of the interior in Chile.